Baz Baruah – host:
This is All Work, No Pay, a show that answers real questions that consultants, freelancers, and business owners have asked.
Okay, so, this week’s show I’m here with Naz Ghadamian who’s a financial adviser for St James’s Place, and we are talking today about managing, about balancing your productivity and your free time. When you work for yourself, it’s very, very easy to end up working constantly. So, how do you make sure you’re taking care of yourself, as well?
So, Naz, how do you make sure that you’re taking care of yourself?
Naz Ghadamian:
Hello again, and thank you for having me.
So, as the best strategies of balancing productivity and free time, what you need is, number one: discipline. You need discipline. Just because you work for yourself, just because you’re a self-employed business owner, doesn’t mean that you can be random. If that’s the case, you have no productivity whatsoever.
What works for me is just a list of things that I do. So, for every day that I turn the computer on, I have a to-do list, and it’s very detailed and very organised, and I do it every day and check it at the end of the day. So, I write down what I have to do on that day based on things that I have done before, the emails that I’ve got. And what I’ll also do is, in front of each job that I have to do, I write down approximately how much time I need to spend on that. That just gives me structure of how to start the day. And when I’ve written it down, I prioritise which one I have to do, again based on what you do. The goal is at the end of the day to earn some money.
So, I’ll start with the ones that is going to bring me closer to have an earning, and then go down the list from there. That just keeps everything simple and keeps everything organised.
And the other thing is just to keep focused: do not lose track of what you’re doing; do not lose track of time. Despite all our best efforts, we are constantly distracted – well, I am constantly distracted…
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
… especially now that I’m working from home: the post comes; a parcel gets delivered; car stops; somebody – I’m just sitting behind the window here – somebody just walks; a dog barks; or the neighbour’s cat is in the garden, and I’m thinking, ‘Why are you always in my garden digging the flowers?’ And then, there is social media, there are kids, there is the washing is done, the shopping needs to be done. So, there are distractions everywhere, and I’ve realised that every time that I’m distracted and I’ve stopped doing what I’m doing, it takes about 15 minutes for me to focus again…
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
… pick up, and make sure I have put that distraction away.
So, I started thinking that when I’m distracted as many times as I am, and then it takes me 15 minutes to get into what I was doing before, then the productive cost of the daily distractions starts going up. I’m losing too much time, and I’m not doing anything.
So, what I’ve started to do is on my calendar, I’ve started making little blocks with different colours to make it visual. So, based on that list that I have made, and the way that I have prioritised it, I’ve put in 45-minute blocks and then 10 minutes’ break time in between. That normally helps me to keep in within the time and also gives me 10 minutes to just have a walk, stretch, do a little – put the washing on, take the washing out; just do little something different. And I try to turn, well, to log out of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram…
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah, yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
… I log out. I log back in. I log out. I log – but that stops me from checking it every two minutes to see, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ Especially if the task that you are doing is not favourable and is something you hate, then you tend to be distracted more. So, again, that discipline comes into place.
So, that colourful blocks helps me – and each, whichever I have done, I draw a line under it on the calendar, just put underscoring…
Baz Baruah – host:
Right, yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
… under it so you know you’ve done it. It just gives me some structures. The other thing that blocks help me doing is avoiding multitasking.
Baz Baruah – host:
Ah, yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
People often think that if they are multitasking, they are achieving more. ‘Ah, I’ve got this one open here. I’ve got that one open here. I’m doing this. I’m doing that.’ But then, I figure that is quite the opposite. If I’m putting – if I’m writing this suitability letter, and I’m answering the emails, and I’m also doing something else, none of those are finished…
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
… I do make mistakes, and I’m working with numbers and that can’t happen. That cannot really happen.
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah, yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
But I have tried to stop multitasking. Finish it – again, that list and those blocks help me to do that because I know I’ve got 45 minutes to do this job. If it takes less, then I can move them forward. If the job needs two 45-minute blocks, then I will book it as two blocks and have 10 minutes’ rest in the middle of it. So, they’re just some of the things that I do to help me keep focused, keep me organised, and stop me from multitasking…
Baz Baruah – host:
That’s…
Naz Ghadamian:
… the other thing that I’d – sorry.
Baz Baruah – host:
Sorry, I was just going to say, have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique?
Naz Ghadamian:
No, I have not.
Baz Baruah – host:
So, it actually sounds like that’s exactly what you do.
Naz Ghadamian:
Okay.
Baz Baruah – host:
So, this guy, he called it the Pomodoro Technique because he had a kitchen timer that was shaped like a tomato.
Naz Ghadamian:
Oh!
Baz Baruah – host:
So, what he did – he found that he was procrastinating. He wasn’t doing his work – I can’t remember his name; it’s completely gone out my mind – but so, what he would do is he would set his timer for 45 minutes, and he would say, ‘Right, I’m just going to work for 45 minutes. I’m not going to do two hours. I’m just going to do 45 minutes, and then I’ll take a break at the end of it.’ And because it was a set amount of time, his brain could deal with it. His brain wasn’t thinking, ‘This is going to take me all day or all night. It’s just 45 minutes. That’s all I need to do, and then I can have a break and do something interesting instead.’
So, it sounds like that’s exactly what you’ve stumbled across, as well.
Naz Ghadamian:
Okay. I’ll look that one up. But it does help me because there are some of the things that I do that can easily take up the whole day, and I hate doing it. So, if I think about when I’m putting the timeframes down in that to-do list in the morning, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, actually, this task is going to take one day, and I’m not going to do it in one day because I hate it.’ So, I break it down in two days or three days, maybe. So, again, I try not to go over that 45 minutes in my blocks, or maybe two 45 minutes and that’s the maximum that I can tolerate that task…
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
… if I carry on further down, I will never finish it, and the job won’t get done. It’s just knowing yourself completely and being honest with yourself about what works for you best.
And the other one, when it comes to looking after yourself, remember – when I started going self-employed, the first thing that I wanted to achieve from going self-employed was to have control over what I’m doing and how I’m doing my business. So, if I wanted to have that flexibility – I wanted to be able to work around what’s best for me, and how to do it myself the way I want to do it – so it makes no sense to do it in a way that I’m not going to look after myself.
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
I started doing it to be able to look after myself and to look after my family. So, it’s just making sure that you allocate time for yourself. During the week, I tend to do nine to five, and no matter what, at five o’clock, I close the computer. I switch off. I log out, and I don’t do it after five. It doesn’t matter if I haven’t finished my list; I’ll move it to next day.
And sometimes, I’m thinking, ‘Okay,’ I start doubting, ‘Maybe I should work until six, until seven, and just finish it.’ But I don’t do it. It’s just my own discipline and my own belief that stick to what you started to do. Go back to your values. My value was being in control and having more time for myself and my family. Just make sure you’ve done it.
And over the weekend, as well, just do something for yourself. There are occasions that I have to talk to a client over the weekend because they are not available during the week. That’s not something that happens every week, but every now and then, I have that – and I allow for that just for the meetings with clients – but I don’t do any paperwork. I don’t do any paperwork at all, even though in my head I’m going through, ‘Oh, my god…’ I’m panicking, thinking, ‘Oh, my god, I haven’t done it,’ but still, I don’t turn the computer on.
And I’ve got better at it because at the beginning of it, I felt extremely guilty as if I’m stealing something from somebody. But then I realised, ‘Okay, nobody is paying you a paycheque. You are not working for anybody. Nobody’s checking… You’re in control.’ So, I have got better at trying to discipline myself and have that routine of no work over the weekend. It’s just…
Baz Baruah – host:
It’s interesting because I have – I think all of us who work for ourselves, we had this dream of freedom and flexibility. And flexibility, especially, when it comes…
Naz Ghadamian:
Exactly.
Baz Baruah – host:
… to kids or whatever it might be. But I had that same goal, but I approach it the exact opposite way.
Naz Ghadamian:
Okay. How do you do it?
Baz Baruah – host:
So, you work nine to five, and then switch off at five o’clock, whereas I don’t, now.
So, when I used to have a proper job – a ‘proper’ job – there were times when I didn’t feel like working, and so I would end up basically sat at my desk just staring into space and pretending to work, making stuff up. And I thought if I’m working for myself, then I don’t need to do that. So, what I now do is if I don’t feel like working, I will go out for a walk, or I’ll go to the shop, or I’ll do something else. And if that means that I then need to work on an evening or at the weekend to catch up, then that’s fine because I’ve made myself that time and I’ve chosen because – again, it’s down to the flexibility thing, I think.
Naz Ghadamian:
Exactly.
Baz Baruah – host:
I thought, ‘Two o’clock in the afternoon. I don’t feel like working, so I’m going to do what I want to do because I’m flexible.’ It’s about finding the thing that’s right for you, isn’t it?
Naz Ghadamian:
Absolutely.
Baz Baruah – host:
The same goal but a completely opposite way of doing it.
Naz Ghadamian:
As I say, it’s just about knowing yourself: what works best for you? For me, what works is the structure side of it. It’s very – it goes with my accounting background, as well, that it’s all listed. It’s all in the audit, and it’s balanced, and it makes sense. For my head, the analytical side of it works really well, and it actually suits me when I have that kind of structure. I’m not a visual kind of person that much; I need to have everything written in front of me. So, when it’s like that, it works. For my daughter, if I write something and put it in front of her, she can’t do it. She really cannot do it, and she is in her 20s. So, it has to be done in pictures, different ways. She’s very visual and she can’t concentrate like that.
So, it’s just knowing yourself exactly, and see how you feel comfortable with the way you’re going to conduct your business. But whichever it is, as you said, you go for a walk, you do something that you enjoy because you don’t feel like doing what you do. So, make sure you do something for yourself that you enjoy. And remember why you started having your own business. Don’t ever forget that you’re in control. You’re in charge. And you can do it the way you want to do it, as long as you get a result at the end of it. Because if you’re not careful, then suddenly you realise, ‘Okay, the week has gone. Yes, I’ve done work. I’ve done what I wanted to do for myself. But have I actually earned anything?’ So, that’s one thing I do every Friday – I told you before that I reviewed what I did this week…
Baz Baruah – host:
Yeah, yeah.
Naz Ghadamian:
So, every Friday around half past one – I tend to finish at two o’clock on Fridays if I can. So, at around two o’clock, I just go over my list over the week. I do not throw them away – when I do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the lists – I keep them. And I circle the ones that I have not been able to do.
So, just having that kind of review at the end of each week, just what worked? What didn’t work? Did this work? Is this plan still productive for you? Are you getting results for it? Don’t be afraid to change it, to experiment with different things. Just try and see which one works for you. But I always make sure on a Friday, I just have a look around and see what’s still outstanding, what I’ve done this week, what it got me, do I need to do anything else extra for it? And then, I just leave it for next Monday.
Baz Baruah – host:
That’s brilliant. Actually, that review: ‘Did it get me the results I was looking for?’ That’s a really important bit. So, yeah, you have to remember that – I do that very often where I do the stuff that I like doing but it’s not necessarily the stuff that makes me money. So, yeah, I need…
Naz Ghadamian:
Exactly.
Baz Baruah – host:
… to add that little bit to my list.
Naz Ghadamian:
Exactly. Don’t forget the aim is to earn some money.
Baz Baruah – host:
Yes.
Naz Ghadamian:
And pay the bills!
Baz Baruah – host:
So, that’s absolutely amazing. Thank you so much, Naz. That’s been…
Naz Ghadamian:
It was my pleasure. Thank you.
Baz Baruah – host:
… really, really informative. So, if anyone does want some help with paying their bills and getting their finances in order, where’s the best place for them to get in touch with you?
Naz Ghadamian:
Okay, so, you can find me on LinkedIn, Naz Ghadamian; I’m there. Also, my email – is naz.ghadamian@sjpp.co.uk. And my mobile is 07724 17 20 89. So, just get in touch, and I’ll see what I can do to help you.
Baz Baruah – host:
That’s amazing. Thank you so much for being with us, and that’s everything for this week’s show.
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